Coup Leaders Crack Down in Honduras

The interim government in Honduras moved to prevent protests late last night, outlawing public assemblies and giving the army broad new arrest powers. Manuel Zelaya, who has been holed up for a week in Tegucigalpa's Brazilian embassy alongside about 65 family members, has called on his supporters to take to the streets today. The de facto regime also expelled international mediators and called on Brazil to kick Zelaya out, but President Lula said he wouldn't respond to "an ultimatum from a government of coup-mongers."

A doctor who visited the embassy said that conditions inside are deteriorating, and several people inside may have contracted flu. Roberto Micheletti, the acting president, reportedly shut down a pro-Zelaya television station yesterday and refuses to budge. In an interview with the Miami Herald, Micheletti says, "This is a matter of God bringing us here. He gives us this tough obligation. But we'll come out of it.'' (More Roberto Micheletti stories.)